Sunday, February 5, 2012

Gait

This week we had a
physical therapist come guest lecture on gait. It was intriguing and a
worthwhile lecture. We focused on gait
patterns more common in geriatric populations, since that was where her
expertise was. We focus on the gaits of a person with Parkinson's or a CVA
(stroke). Then we learned to walk with a variety of canes, walkers, and
crutches. They are much harder to coordinate than I would have imagined. I also
always thought it was the people with walkers that were slow, but it is really
the walker itself. The walker forces one to take smaller steps, and it prevents
one from gaining momentum. Canes should be used for balance, and almost never
for weight bearing because it is likely to cause hand issues because the hands
are not meant to weight bear. I also learned that I am horrible with crutches,
so let's hope I never need them.

Here is a video of the gait of a man with Parkinson's before and after medication. It is amazing.

Sometimes it was
hard for the class to pay attention to details because realistically we will
not be teaching anyone walk properly. We just need to know to refer to a
physical therapist. However, we do need to know how the assistive devices work
because often we "trick" them out to make them more functional. It is
important to learn about gait though because many of the activities we do with
patients will require them to be slightly mobile, even if it is a short trip to
the bathroom, and we need to know how they are likely to fall, so that we can
prevent it.